In a brilliant performance that brought together the beauty and the beast, the Blues gave their best performance this season to bag the Gordon Hunter Memorial Trophy. That was the first time that they’ve managed to take the trophy home since 2012, keeping the Super Rugby Aotearoa race going for another week.
Following a flat two-week period where the Hurricanes defeated them in Wellington, they seemed fortunate to make it past the Chiefs in Eden Park. However, the Blues managed to click for large parts during their return game against the Highlanders.
While the Blues’ victory gave them a 22 point lead, Leon MacDonald’s men only have a single game remaining. In their final game in the domestic competition, the team will face the Crusaders at Eden Park on 16 th August. The Crusaders will go into this game after playing the Highlanders on Sundays. Fortunately, punters can take advantage of the pointsbet promo code when wagering on the game. PoinsBet is one of the main operators that put at players’ disposal a
wide range of spread betting markets.
The Blues last won in 2011 at Dunedin, racing to an early 12-0 lead with tries from halfback Christie and Akira Ioane at number eight. However, the Highlanders responded with a penalty shot that put the score 12-10, before a major controversy almost overshadowed the game. As the Highlanders took the opportunity to attack, flanker Dalton Papali intercepted a loose pass, running 60 meters to record a try for the Blues.
Referee Mike Fraser soon after reviewed Dalton’s moment of interception and overturned his try for a penalty instead, as Karl Tu’inukuafe was offside. The penalty was slotted by Josh Ioane, who gave his team a 13-12 lead over the Blues. Nonetheless, the lead was short-lived ass TJ Fajane was quick to score after the restart, giving the Blues a 17-13 lead.
Though Ioane gave the Highlanders another penalty goal in the 36 th minute, the Blues continued leading after their prop Ofa Tu'ungafasi put a try from the attacking lineout. The try gave the visitors a 24-16 scoreline in their favor by the break.
Only three minutes into the second half, Christie put in his second try, before Beauden Barret recorded another penalty score to give the Blues a 32-16 lead. The Highlanders tried to put on a strong fight throughout the game, spending the rest of the time during the game on attack mode.
However, the only thing they managed was a Shannon Frizel try at the end of it all.
